Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on radiography education in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic shutdown of tertiary institutions in Nigeria and globally following the lockdown of socio-economic activities. There is paucity of data on the effects of the pandemic on Radiography education in Nigerian universities especially in Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU) Nnewi campus. This prospective cross - sectional study was carried out using a structured questionnaire. One hundred and twenty- five questionnaires were distributed by the researcher to students, academic and non-academic staff of the department of Radiography, NAU, and one hundred was retrieved thereafter. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 23 at 5% level of significance. The major effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Radiography education in NAU were poor access to education financing (97%), poor attendance to lectures (91%), poor academic performance after the lockdown (85%), better attitude to infection control (81%), disruption of academic calendar (88%), the rushing of many lectures over a short time and low assimilation/understanding among students (75%), the predominance of physical classroom lectures especially among undergraduates (55%), promoted online lectures especially among postgraduate students (45%), better hygiene culture (35%, 0.00076 = p < 0.05, adjusted α = 0.0032) ) and loss of interest in education (27.5%). However, only the enthronement of better hygiene culture had significant effects on Radiography education (p = 0.00076). The study concludes that the only significant and positive effect of COVID-19 pandemic on Radiography education in NAU was the enthronement of better hygiene culture.